BUKHARA, Uzbekistan -- A 6-year-old boy has died during cotton picking in Uzbekistan's southwestern province of Bukhara.
Provincial law enforcement officials told RFE/RL on September 19 that Amirbek Rakhmatov, who was sleeping in a trailer, was suffocated under a cotton load.
The incident occurred on September 15, one day before a university student stabbed four fellow students, killing one and injuring the other three, at a mandatory cotton-picking site in the province of Qashqadaryo.
Earlier this month, another college student died in a cotton field in Qashqadaryo Province after she touched a live electrical wire.
For years, rights watchdogs have accused the Uzbek authorities of forcing schoolchildren and university students to pick cotton, one of the country's biggest exports.
Provincial law enforcement officials told RFE/RL on September 19 that Amirbek Rakhmatov, who was sleeping in a trailer, was suffocated under a cotton load.
The incident occurred on September 15, one day before a university student stabbed four fellow students, killing one and injuring the other three, at a mandatory cotton-picking site in the province of Qashqadaryo.
Earlier this month, another college student died in a cotton field in Qashqadaryo Province after she touched a live electrical wire.
For years, rights watchdogs have accused the Uzbek authorities of forcing schoolchildren and university students to pick cotton, one of the country's biggest exports.
